Potpourris: miscellaneous tips #3

Potpourris: Miscellaneous Tips #3

Ok, I get all these tips in the mail see. But I'm too lazy to organize them, so here they come just as posted.
Note: I haven't tried them all.

Get you Own Tips everyday by E-mail
http://www.winmag.com/listserv/
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How do I get rid of the Windows 98 logo that you see during startup?"

The easiest way to hide this screen is to use the Tweak UI PowerToy. (Quick review: The Tweak UI PowerToy is on your Windows 98 installation CD, in the Tools\Reskit\Powertoy folder. To install it, right-click Tweakui.inf and select Install. To open Tweak UI, double-click its icon in Control Panel.)

Open Tweak UI and click the Boot tab. Deselect Display Splash Screen While Booting, then click OK--and enjoy your logo-less startup!

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THE UN-WELCOME WELCOME BOX

B. Festa writes, "I have recently re-installed Windows 95, and I can't get rid of the password box that appears when the computer starts up. It says that if you don't enter one, it won't appear again, but it always does! Can I fix this annoying problem?"

This is one of those questions we get all the time, so although we've run this tip before, we'll discuss a couple of possible solutions.

The next time you see the login dialog box, enter a user name and password, if you haven't already. Next, open Control Panel, double-click the Passwords icon, and on the Change Passwords tab, click the Change Windows Password button. Type your password in the Old Password text box, press Tab, then type it again in the New Password text box. Press Enter, and you'll see a dialog box telling you that your password has been changed. That Welcome To Windows 95 dialog box shouldn't bother you again (although we've heard from many people for whom this technique doesn't solve the problem).

Another option is to use the Tweak UI PowerToy. (Quick review: To obtain the Windows 95 PowerToys, point your Web browser to

http://www.pcworld.com/r/tw/1%2C2061%2Ctw-w950409%2C00.html

and download Powertoy.exe to your folder of choice, such as a PowerToys folder on the desktop. Double-click this file to extract its contents; then, to install Tweak UI, right-click Tweakui.inf and select Install.) Open Tweak UI (you'll find it in Control Panel), select the Network tab, and select Log On Automatically At System Startup. Type your user name and password, then click OK.

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CLEAR SURFING

Every month we get asked if there is a way to get rid of all those banners that pop up everywhere you go on the Net. Now there IS a way. Go to

http://www.pcworld.com/fileworld/file_description/0,1458,6049,00.html

and download @Guard version 2.2. This shareware program gets rid of most banners. When we tested @Guard, we found that it blocked 18 pictures and 46 cookies in only a few minutes of surfing.

You can use @Guard free for 30 days. If you decide to keep using the program, registration is $29.95. Contact the manufacturer for the latest version information.

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If you're a killer keyboard commando-we're guessing that you are-you should know the function keys that let you rip through Windows Explorer. The F4 function key opens the Address drop-down menu and highlights it so you can quickly use your arrow keys to navigate local or network drives, plus My Computer and Desktop folders.

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AS EASY AS A-B-C

I've found an easier (and safer) way to alphabetize my Start menu. Click Start and navigate your way to the Start menu branch you want alphabetized. Right-click any item at this level, select Sort By Name, and voila--all nonfolder shortcuts at that level are sorted alphabetically.

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You may already know that pressing Alt-F4 closes the currently active window. But what you may not know is that this command is the equivalent of selecting Start, Shut Down IF the focus is currently on the desktop (as opposed to an open window) or IF no windows are open.

So, close all open windows (or place the focus on the desktop), then press Alt-F4 to bring up the Shut Down Windows dialog box. Select an option--Restart or Shut Down--then press Enter.

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Some applications add themselves to the Context menu's cascading New menu that appears when you right-click on the Desktop or within a folder. You may find that even after you've deleted a particular application, it stays on the New menu. If you want to remove it, launch My Computer, select Options from the View menu and click on the File Types tab. Find the offending application on the list, select it and click on the Remove button. Click on Yes when it asks for confirmation.

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YOU MAY WANT TO RECONSIDER HIDING THAT DRIVE

If I right-click my Start button, the Open and Explore options are inactive (grayed-out). Any idea how I can get these options back?"

We can't tell you how many people have written in with the same problem! It seems this problem arises if you use Tweak UI PowerToy to hide one or more drives on your system. Microsoft suggests that you unhide any drives to resolve this problem.

In case you forgot where to find this setting, open Tweak UI, click the My Computer tab, select any unselected check boxes, then click OK. Restart Windows 98, right-click Start, and those Open and Explorer commands should be back in business.

(Quick review: The Tweak UI PowerToy is on your Windows 98 installation CD, in the Tools\Reskit\Powertoy folder. To install it, right-click Tweakui.inf and select Install. To open Tweak UI, double-click its icon in Control Panel.)

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POP! GOES THE FOLDER LIST

A reader, GenuWeb, asks, "Is there a way to have the Control Panel and Printers Start menu items act like other menus that display a pop-out list of all the items inside?"

Yes, as long as you don't mind creating a couple of new Start menu folders. To work with Control Panel, right-click the Start button, select Open, and in the resulting Start Menu window, select File, New, Folder. Type

Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}

(to name the folder), then press Enter. (Note that there's no space between the period and the open bracket.)

To create a Printers folder, follow these exact steps, but name the folder

Printers.{2227A280-3AEA-1069-A2DE-08002B30309D}

And here's a bonus tip. To create a Dial-Up Networking folder, name the folder

DUN.{992CFFA0-F557-101A-88EC-00DD010CCC48}

(Supposedly, you can create these folders without all of this typing from the Desktop tab of the Tweak UI PowerToy, but we couldn't get it to work on our system. Maybe you can.)

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When you "add a folder" to your Start menu by dragging and dropping it onto the Start button, you're really just adding a shortcut to the folder. It's usually better to put the actual folder there instead of a shortcut. The Start menu is just a special folder in the Windows folder called, unsurprisingly, "Start Menu." If you put folders that contain your documents into this folder, you gain three advantages. First, what you see on the Start menu is always correct; delete a folder, for example, and it disappears from the Start menu as well, while a shortcut would remain. Second, actual folders appear on the Start menu as cascading menu items, whereas shortcuts to folders just open the folder on your Desktop when selected. And finally, the Start menu is always available, even if your Desktop is packed with clutter.

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Power users, it's time to get really familiar with your File Types dialog. This is where you can turbocharge Windows and customize the way it works for you. Launch My Computer, select Options from the View menu and click on the File Types tab. Scroll down the list of file types, highlight a file that you use a lot (an HTM file, text file or e-mail file, for example) and click on the Edit button. In the dialog box that comes up, you can change the icon for that file type, add extensions of the same file type, put items on the Context menu, enable QuickView and much more.

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GIVE YOUR STARTUP THE BOOT

A couple of months ago, we showed you how to display a startup menu every time you start Windows 98: Select Start, Run, type

msconfig

and press Enter to open the System Configuration Editor. On the General tab, click Advanced, select Enable Startup Menu, click OK twice, and then click Yes to restart your system.

H. S. Cohen (and a number of other readers) wrote in to remind us that you can change the same setting using the Tweak UI PowerToy. (Quick review: The Tweak UI PowerToy is on your Windows 98 installation CD, in the Tools\Reskit\Powertoy folder. To install it, right-click Tweakui.inf and select Install. To open Tweak UI, double-click its icon in Control Panel.)

Open Tweak UI and select the Boot tab. (You'll need to scroll over a bit to access this tab.) Select Always Show Boot Menu and click OK. The startup menu will now appear every time you start Windows 98.

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PUT A MUZZLE ON YOUR DIAL-UP CONNECTION

There is a setting designed to silence your modem, but we should point out that it doesn't work for all modems. (You'll have to try it on yours and see.)

Open Control Panel and double-click Modems. On the General tab, select your modem, click the Properties button, and move the lever under Speaker Volume all the way left to Off. Click OK, then Close, and from now on, that modem will connect in silence.

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You can set performance parameters on practically every computer that comes with a built-in CD-ROM. Go to Control Panel/System/ Performance, click on the File System button under Advanced settings and open the CD-ROM tab. You can increase your cache size and inform Windows 9x of your CD-ROM's speed so it can optimize access to the CDs you use.

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NOW THAT'S A COLOR PALETTE!

In our last tip, we showed you how to recolor your favorite Windows 95 wallpaper: Open the corresponding *.bmp file (in your Windows folder) in Paint; save it under a new name; select View, Zoom, Large Size; and start painting. Wish you had more colors to choose from? (In many cases, your palette will be very limited--in some cases, black, white, and gray only.) To expand your palette, just save the wallpaper as a 256 Color Bitmap file.

Let's assume you're recoloring the Houndstooth wallpaper. Open Houndstooth.bmp and select File, Save As. Under Save As Type, select 256 Color Bitmap, type a new name for the file (you might as well do all of this in one step), and click the Save button. And there you have it--a much bigger palette! (Tip: If you don't see an immediate change in your palette, select File, Save As and click the Save button.)

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You can select groups of icons or folders on the desktop or within folders by clicking outside the body of icons and, while holding the left mouse button, dragging a rectangle to surround all the icons you want to select, then letting go. You can then move, copy or delete them en masse.

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SHORTCUT RE-ORG

"I have shortcuts on my desktop that I don't use as often as I thought. I don't want to delete them--I just want the icons off my desktop."

The easiest way to consolidate shortcuts without actually deleting them is to place them in a single desktop or Start menu folder. That way, they're still around, but they only occupy the space of a single shortcut.

To place the shortcuts in a desktop folder, right-click the desktop and select New, Folder. Type a name for the folder, then press Enter. Hold down Ctrl as you select each desktop shortcut you want to move, then drag and drop the selection right on top of the new folder.

To place the shortcuts in a Start menu folder, right-click your Start button and select Open. In the Start Menu window, select File, New, Folder. Right-click the new folder, select Rename, type a name for the folder, and press Enter. Hold down Ctrl as you select each shortcut you want to move, drag the selection from the desktop into the new folder (in the Start Menu window), and let go. From now on, you can access these shortcuts by selecting Start, [new folder], [shortcut].

(Note: The above techniques are for shortcuts only. If you try to drag "permanent" desktop icons, such as the Recycle Bin or Inbox, into a new folder, Windows will only allow you to create shortcuts to them.)

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MORE THAN ONE WAY TO RESTORE YOUR PREVIEW

Back in March, we responded to reader C. Stott's question (below) with a Registry-based solution offered by Microsoft.

"I recently installed a photo publishing package, and it changed my file associations so that it was the default program for all graphics files. I didn't like this behavior, so I changed it back (by selecting View, Folder Options, clicking the File Types tab, and so on). The problem is, now Windows doesn't display previews of those files in my open folders window (when viewing the folders as Web pages), like it used to. How can I get my previews back?"

After reading our tip, the same reader shared with us another solution (aimed specifically at restoring your ability to view *.jpg files in a Windows Explorer window) discovered at

http://www.windows-help.net

To begin, select Start, Run, then type

regsvr32.exe /i shdocvw.dll

and press Enter.

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MORE THAN ONE WAY TO RESTORE YOUR PREVIEW

Back in March, we responded to reader C. Stott's question (below) with a Registry-based solution offered by Microsoft.

After reading our tip, the same reader shared with us another solution (aimed specifically at restoring your ability to view *.jpg files in a Windows Explorer window) discovered at

http://www.windows-help.net

To begin, select Start, Run, then type

regsvr32.exe /i shdocvw.dll

and press Enter.

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ICON LINE-UP

J. Smith writes, "The icons on my desktop just don't look right. (They don't appear evenly spaced and aligned as I've seen on other systems.) How do I align them?"

Apparently, your desktop's Auto Arrange command is turned off, meaning that if you click and drag an icon to a new location on the desktop, Windows will leave the icon in that exact location. If you want your icons lined up in neat, evenly spaced rows on the left side of the screen, turn Auto Arrange back on. Right-click the desktop, select Arrange Icons, and in the resulting menu, select Auto Arrange. Now, no matter where you attempt to place icons, they will automatically jump back into formation.

If, on the other hand, you want your icons evenly spaced and aligned wherever YOU place them (for example, along the top and right edges of the screen), simply ask Windows to line them up. Right-click the desktop and select Line Up Icons.

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GO BACK WHERE YOU CAME FROM

A. Mitchell writes, "I accidentally took Windows Explorer from my Start menu's Programs folder and dropped it on the desktop. How do I go about returning it to its original location?"

Windows 98's new drag-and-drop Start menu management features make it a snap to move this (or any) shortcut to any location on your Start menu. No cumbersome window navigation necessary.

Click and drag the shortcut directly over the Start button, and when the menu expands, drag your mouse up to the Programs folder, which will also expand. Still holding onto that mouse button, move the item to the desired location on the Programs menu (above or below an existing item--a black line will appear to let you know it's a "legal" spot), then let go.

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If Win95 crashes and Ctrl+Alt+Del fails to bring up the Close Program dialog, try hitting Ctrl+Esc. The Start menu may come up, letting you perform a graceful and safe reboot.

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THE OL' LANGUAGE SWITCHEROO, PART 1 OF 2

G. Pezzi writes, "Is it possible to add an Italian or German keyboard by simply changing Windows' settings or do I have to purchase one?"

Windows 95 offers many language/layout combinations to convert your keyboard to the language of your choice. Open Control Panel, double-click Keyboard, and click the Language tab. Click the Add button, click the down arrow, select the desired language, then click OK. Back on the Language tab, you'll see this language and the corresponding keyboard layout listed below the default language. (Tip-in-a-tip: Select the language you use most often and click the Set As Default button.)

Click OK, and you'll see a new, dark blue symbol in the tray of your taskbar. To change languages, click this button and select a language from the pop-up list.

THE OL' LANGUAGE SWITCHEROO, PART 2 OF 2

In our last tip, we showed you how to install a new keyboard language and layout: Open the Control Panel, double-click Keyboard, click the Language tab, click Add, select a language, and click OK twice. To switch to any of the installed languages, click the dark blue symbol in the tray of your taskbar and select a language.

Don't want this icon taking up valuable taskbar real estate? Then hide it. You can still switch among installed languages using the keyboard.

Open Control Panel, double-click Keyboard, and click the Language tab. Deselect Enable Indicator On Taskbar, then select one of the two keyboard combos under Switch Languages. Click OK, and watch as the symbol disappears from your taskbar. To switch from one installed language to the next, simply press the appropriate keyboard combo.

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TAKE YOUR KEYBOARD INTERNATIONAL, PART 1 OF 3

Do you frequently type documents that require foreign characters (of multiple languages)? Forget all that tedious searching through the Character Map. Change your keyboard layout to United States-International, and you can type these characters right from your keyboard. (Note: This tip assumes your default language is set to English [United States].)

Open Control Panel, double-click Keyboard, and click the Language tab. With English (United States) selected under Language, click the Properties button, then click the down arrow and select United States-International. Click OK twice, and insert the Windows 95 installation CD when asked.

The international layout adds one or two characters to certain keys on your keyboard. Hold down your keyboard's right Alt key (referred to as the Alternate Character, or AltChar, key) as you press each key on your keyboard. Now do the same pressing Shift-AltChar in combination with each key.

As you go through the keys, make a mental note of the keyboard combos necessary to type the characters you use. For example, to type an uppercase E with an accent that goes up and to the right, you'd press Shift-AltChar-E.

Pretty neat, eh? In our next tip, more on this worldly keyboard layout...

TAKE YOUR KEYBOARD INTERNATIONAL, PART 2 OF 3

In our last tip, we showed you how to switch your keyboard to the U.S.-International layout, which adds up to two characters to certain keys on your keyboard: In Control Panel, double-click Keyboard, click the Language tab, click Properties, select United States-International, and click OK twice. To use the new characters, press a key in combination with the AltChar key (the right Alt key on your keyboard) or Shift-AltChar. (Note: This tip assumes your default language is set to English [United States].)

Now let's look at another component of this international layout--assistance keys. There are five keys on your keyboard--the apostrophe ('), the back quote (`), the circumflex (^), the double-quote ("), and the tilde (~)--that now act as assistants in making, respectively, an acute accent, a grave accent, a hat over a vowel, an umlaut, and the squiggle over the N in the Spanish word senor.

For example, to type an E with an umlaut (the two dots) over it, press the double-quote ("), then press the letter E. Or to type an O with a hat over it, press the circumflex (^), then press the letter O.

In our next tip, one more assistance key trick...

TAKE YOUR KEYBOARD INTERNATIONAL, PART 3 OF 3

In the first tip in this series, we showed you how to switch your keyboard to the U.S.-International layout, which adds up to two characters to certain keys on your keyboard: In Control Panel, double-click Keyboard, click the Language tab, click Properties, select United States-International, and click OK twice. To use the new characters, press a key in combination with the AltChar key (the right Alt key on your keyboard) or Shift-AltChar.

(Note: This tip assumes your default language is set to English [United States].)

Then, in our last tip, we told you that there are five "assistance" keys--the apostrophe ('), the back quote (`), the circumflex (^), the double-quote ("), and the tilde (~)--that, when pressed in combination with another key, make an acute accent, a grave accent, a hat over a vowel, an umlaut, and a squiggle (as over the N in the Spanish word senor), respectively.

The big question is, how do you use one of the assistance keys as it's supposed to be used? For example, let's suppose you wanted to type the letter E within single quotes: 'E'. With the international layout turned on, typing a single quote and then E would result in an E with an accent over it. And typing the second quote would do absolutely nothing (that assistance key is waiting for a key to assist).

The solution? Any time you want to type an assistance key as it was meant to be used, enter a space after it. So in the example above, you'd type a single quote, press Spacebar, type E, then a single quote, and press Spacebar.
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If you change a Registry setting that affects the taskbar or Start menu, here's how to enable the new setting without restarting Windows. After making a change, press Ctrl+Alt+Del to bring up the Close Program dialog. Select Explorer and click on the End Task button. In the Shut Down Windows dialog that pops up, click on No (or Cancel if you have IE 4.0 installed)

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DOS BOOTS

D. Neufeld asks, "Can you start a Windows 98 system at a DOS prompt, rather than having to load Windows 98 and then restart in MS-DOS mode?"

You can boot directly to DOS (without starting Windows) every time by making a simple setting change in Tweak UI. (Quick review: The Tweak UI PowerToy is on your Windows 98 installation CD, in the Tools\Reskit\Powertoy folder. To install it, right-click Tweakui.inf and select Install. To open Tweak UI, double-click its icon in Control Panel.)

Open Tweak UI and select the Boot tab. Deselect Start GUI Automatically, then click OK to close Tweak UI. The next time you start your system, you'll go straight to a DOS prompt and stay there. (In case you forget, type

Win

at the DOS prompt to start Windows.)

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THAT'S THE FAX, JACK

S. Chanter writes, "Any ideas on how to install the old Win 95 fax capability on a fresh Windows 98 installation?"

We get numerous requests for this tip, so although we've run it before, here's a recap:

Microsoft didn't include fax capability in Windows 98, but they did put Microsoft Fax on the Windows 98 installation CD. Pop the CD in your CD-ROM drive, click Browse This CD, and navigate your way to the Tools/OldWin95/Messaging/Us folder. To install Microsoft Fax, run awfax.exe.

Also keep in mind that according to Microsoft, this utility 'requires a Full MAPI Client in order to function, such as: Microsoft Exchange, Windows Messaging, Microsoft Exchange Server Client, or Outlook [the full version, not Express].'

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Here's an easy way to always open TXT files in WordPad rather than Notepad. Click once on any TXT file, then hold down the Shift key and right-click on the file. Choose Open With from the pop-up menu, scroll through the list of programs and choose WordPad. Check the box labeled "Always use this program to open this type of file" before you click on OK.

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JUST ANOTHER ONE OF THE MANY BUGS....

N. Moore writes, "When I use Find to locate files, and then right-click a selection of the files in the Find window, the Send To command is missing. Is something wrong with my system, or have you heard from others with the same problem?"

You aren't alone. Microsoft confirms that this problem exists if you attempt to access the Send To command with multiple files selected (in a Find window). The only workaround is to right-click one file at a time and select Send To.

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When you install Internet Explorer 5 over Win9x, you'll find a new folder called Windows Update Setup Files in your root directory. This folder is filled with setup files that take up between 10MB and 20MB of space on your hard disk. It's a good idea to save them for a while after installing IE5 to make sure it's running properly. That way, you won't have to download the app again if you run into trouble and want to reinstall. After using IE5 for a while without encountering any problems, you can delete these files to regain the disk space.

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WAVE GOOD-BYE TO THE TEMPS

J. Trick writes, "I have a directory called C:\Windows\Temporary Internet Files. It is filled with hundreds of files, some of which, when double-clicked, will start Internet Explorer and bring up Web sites or parts of Web pages. What is it? Can the files in it be deleted?"

This folder (called a cache) stores information from all the Web pages you've opened recently. The idea is that if you attempt to open the same pages again, they'll open more quickly because you already have the information on your local hard drive.

To empty this folder, open a browser window from Internet Explorer and select Tools, Internet Options (or right-click the IE icon on your desktop and select Properties). On the General tab, click the Delete Files button, then click OK to confirm.

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You can manually extract files from your Windows CD or IE setup CAB files, which can be very useful when your PC tells you KERNEL32.DLL or another system file has been corrupted. Win98's System File Checker (SFC.EXE in the \WINDOWS\SYSTEM folder) can automatically fix some corrupted files for you. But Win95 users can also make repairs using the DOS EXTRACT.EXE tool (in the \WINDOWS\COMMANDS folder). Type EXTRACT /? from a DOS window to view the syntax requirements and available options for using this tool. For more detailed information, see Microsoft's Web page "How to Extract Original Compressed Windows Files" at
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q129/6/05.asp.

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COVER YOUR BROWSING TRACKS

D. McKay writes, "I am totally amazed at the number of people who do not realize that information from each Web site they visit using Internet Explorer is downloaded to their hard drive. (And by the way, this is a good way to view what your children are looking into. Shhh....) They also have no idea how to dump the related files. I think it would be a good idea (a refresher) to go over this procedure again."

When you browse the Web using Internet Explorer (or any browser, for that matter) information from the pages you visit is stored in a 'cache' (folder), typically C:\Windows\Temporary Internet Files. (Then, when you revisit a page, it will open more quickly.) Everyone should know about this folder and how to empty it--both for privacy reasons and to free up wasted hard disk space.

To empty your cache, open an IE browser window and select View, Internet Options. (Alternatively, right-click the IE icon on your desktop and select Properties). On the General tab, click the Delete Files button, then click OK to confirm.

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